Should I pick my Thomasville Citrangequat's

[LBurford]

My Thomasville Citrangequat is absolutely loaded with fruit. They are still green, but the largest ones have a very faint sign of turning yellow. Next Monday the weather forecast says we may get down to 32 degrees then the lows are back on the low 40's and high 30's after that. Will this one night of possible 30 to 32 degrees ruin the fruit? What should I do.

[Mulberry0126]

Don't quote me on this but I've heard the fruit themselves are good down to the mid-20s (25F maybe?)
You could harvest some now and see how they are if you give them more time to color up. Our little outdoor tree has 1 maybe 2 fruit doing the same and I've been curious about trying them at this stage as well as after a freeze.

[LBurford]

Thanks. I was not sure in a night at freezing would hurt them. 

[bussone]

My Thomasville Citrangequat is absolutely loaded with fruit. They are still green, but the largest ones have a very faint sign of turning yellow. Next Monday the weather forecast says we may get down to 32 degrees then the lows are back on the low 40's and high 30's after that. Will this one night of possible 30 to 32 degrees ruin the fruit? What should I do.

If you are concerned, a frost net might keep your tree above 32 F.

[LBurford]

The tree is too large to get any kind of covering over it, but I may could cover some of the lower limbs with fruit on them.

[jim VH]

     My tree had 33 lbs. this year, which I've already picked. I juice many of them and add it to my apple quince sauce for an extra zing.
     I've had it for 17 years and it's seen all sorts of weather. Brief exposures (a couple hours or so) down to 25F won't ruin the fruit, but long exposures will. Temperatures down to 30F should be fine for longer periods.
     When green, the fruit has a touch of Key Lime bitter taste and are used by some people where Key limes are used. The bitter fades as the fruit ripens and--in my opinion--the ripe fruit have a better flavor.

[vnomonee]

When does everyone pick the yellow/orange stage? My inground tree in the gh which is grafted to poncirus dropped the fruit but the potted one that is about 1/4 the size has 2 fruit on it, that one is grafted to sour orange which is not compatible with pure kumquats

[Millet]

If your taste prefers a more bitter taste pick when the fruit is still in a somewhat green stage.  If you enjoy a sweeter taste, pick when fully yellow. However, know that Thomasville never gets really sweet.

[LBurford]

My trees came from a guy in north Louisiana who lives in a zone 7 / 8 who had it growing in his yard. I bought some seedlings he sprouted from seed, but my big tree is one I grafted from his tree. He called it Orangequat. I thought it had to be a Thomasville. The year I got my grafts his tree was loaded and very late in the year the fruit began to turn orange. They got a sweet taste when the orange color appeared. The yellow ones taste like a lemon to me. The problem here is our season ends before they usually have time to get orange. This is even if they bloom and set fruit early.

[LBurford]

As usual the weather man missed it a few degrees. It got down to 28 for a couple of hours then came back to the mid 50's today. That is a really cold night for my area this time of year. One more night at freezing then it will warm back up some.